Chelsea press notebook: Why Enzo Maresca is unfazed by the pressure of staying at Stamford Bridge | Football news

I suspect there are a few who agree with Enzo Maresca’s sentiments about January being a “disaster”, but perhaps for different reasons, writes Sky Sports’ Gail Davis.

It didn’t sound like the Chelsea boss had too much time for New Year’s resolutions. He took a good few minutes to practice on his last day off – for the record, it was during the international break in November.

What occupies much of his mind is finding a way to restart Chelsea’s season. The club’s last league win was back in mid-December against Brentford – they blew their chance after leading Fulham to top the table on Boxing Day and haven’t enjoyed a league win since. Add in the increasing “noise” that comes with the January transfer window, especially at a club like Chelsea, and you begin to understand his disdain during that month.

His answer to being a happy Chelsea head coach, he jokes, might be to put his phone on silent this month.

“It’s better if I don’t answer,” he laughs.

The other pressing issue surrounding finding a way to get Chelsea winning again may not be as simple as flipping a switch. Chelsea’s concern is that a certain pattern is emerging.

Against Fulham on Boxing Day, they dominated the first half and took the lead only to find themselves drawn into a game plan they didn’t want to play after half-time, and the game ended in a 2-1 win for Fulham. The defeat against Ipswich came after Maresca’s side were once again wasteful in front of goal. Then came a draw with Crystal Palace after Cole Palmer put Chelsea ahead, but they couldn’t close out the game. At Stamford Bridge last Tuesday, Chelsea had 26 shots against Bournemouth and 10 on target – Palmer scoring first but they needed a late Reece James free-kick to rescue a point.

Maresca has already faced this kind of blow in his short managerial career. Last year at Leicester, after destroying the Championship in the first few months, the club experienced a wobble.

He says he learned from it and can draw on some of the learnings from what he did to get Leicester through it and back to the Premier League. Ultimately, he says, the stakes may seem higher, but the solutions are the same.

“No, I don’t feel pressure, whether I was at Leicester last year or here. I mean, I feel pressure because I put pressure on myself to see how we can be better, how we can help the players to improve,” he said.

“So, this kind of pressure for sure, but it’s not just here. It was last year, it was two years ago in a way. So it’s not, for me, it’s not a big change between last year and this year.

“In the end, the best thing is to work with 20 players, 25 players day in and day out. Young players, they want to learn, they want to improve. And this is the same job at Leicester as here or I said in two years ago.”

He added: “If you look at the table at the moment, unless you’re Liverpool, the rest, we’ve all had a bad moment, bad results for four or five games, Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle, Aston Villa, City, all of us.

“So I think it’s a normal thing that moments like this will happen during the season, a normal thing. It’s not really for Liverpool, and if they can finish the season the way they’re doing, it means they’ve thoroughly deserved to win, but there are so many games that anything can happen.”

In those more challenging moments, I ask “do you have a network of people outside of your coaching team that you can call on?”

Given that Maresca has played for 11 different clubs in four different countries under Carlo Ancelotti and Marcello Lippi and of course alongside Pep Guardiola, you can only imagine the names and numbers stored in his contacts, so the answer is surprising.

“My four children,” he says.

“I guess you can’t be more honest than your children,” I add. “But really, no one else?”

– No, I don’t – Maresca answers. The coaching staff is with me, that we try to help each other, and then I don’t have anyone outside the club, nor from the coaching staff, he admits.

It is clear that there is an unwavering belief in what he is doing. You don’t need anyone else, I ask.

“Not right now, hopefully not in the future, but right now I’m fine. I spend almost all day here, from 7am to 7pm, then I go home to my four kids and wife and I’m trying to get some energy back.”

“So come on then,” I ask, “what’s the best thing one of your kids has said to you in the last few weeks? Something like, ‘Dad, when are you going to start scoring?'” I joke.

“The good thing is that they are understanding now,” says Maresca. “The oldest is 11, so sometimes he asks me about some changes, I say, journalists are already asking me, fans are already asking me, now my children are also asking about changes.

“Can’t you just love your daddy and not worry? OK, OK, OK, I love you daddy?”

If only it were always so easy to laugh.

There is an ease and warmth behind Maresca, but the overriding feeling when talking to him is intensity and a real steeliness – no surprise when you consider Guardiola’s influence on his coaching career.

In his short time at Chelsea, he has already shown that he can make sometimes unpopular decisions. He disputes the description of “brutal”, more “honest”, he says.

“I think if you’re honest with the players, if you’re open, if they can see that you’re real and not fake, I think that’s the best way. And since we started, from day one, I try to be open with them, I try to be honest with them, and I think they see it.

“I hope they can appreciate it. I try to be close to the players, because I think the way I like to be close to the players and then, like I said, be honest to succeed.”

The team can never be in doubt about where they are and where they need to be – and that is the focus at the moment, although Maresca admits it is difficult for some players in January.

One player who set those standards and certainly isn’t going anywhere for some time is Cole Palmer. A doubt for Monday’s game with Wolves after picking up a knock against Bournemouth, Palmer has been phenomenal this season. His opener in Tuesday night’s game was another to add to his remarkable run of finishes in a Chelsea shirt.

Palmer signed a nine-year contract, which was scary at the time and perhaps until the news of the Erling Haaland deal that was announced just before our interview. Two Premier League poster boys, two players with whom Maresca has had the privilege of working closely – but who may turn out to be greater legends of their club when we look back in a decade’s time.

“It’s so complicated,” Maresca replies. “It is something that is almost impossible. First of all, because you can imagine the future a bit, but in the end, you never know, anything can happen.

“The thing is that this type of club like City, like Chelsea, they try to protect or keep the best player as long as they can. The good thing is that they are both top players and they will be there for a long time and we can enjoy it” in them.”

There is an argument that Palmer’s skills give his team more than perhaps Haaland. Maresca smiles: “We’re happy with the way he’s working, but as we’ve said since we started, it’s not right to rely on Cole for everything. He helps us, but we also have more players who are doing well and that’s important.”

Those players could get their chance on Monday, and if they can take it, the outlook of the month could begin to change for the Chelsea head coach.

Watch Chelsea v Wolves live on Monday Night Football from 6.30pm on Sky Sports Premier League, kick-off 8pm.